#abc model

If you're reading this, you know the reality: being a parent to a child on the spectrum is a journey of immense joy, intense love, and moments of utter confusion. You’ve mastered so much, yet when the big behaviours hit—the sudden meltdowns, the aggression, the self-injury—it’s like a vital piece of the puzzle is missing. You need Behavioral support for autistic children that doesn't feel cold or clinical.

The key to unlocking that calm is understanding Behaviour Intervention, delivered through Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Therapy. It’s not about control; it’s about decoding your child’s needs. Understanding Strategies for managing meltdowns autism is our shared mission.

We get it. You're exhausted. You’re doing your best. At tellos.com, we cut through the academic noise to give you the tactical, human-centred roadmap on how ABA works to replace the chaos with clear communication.

The Core Goal: Understanding Why They're Doing That 

Let's start with the biggest, most important mindset shift you can make: Challenging behaviour is not personal, and it's not malicious. It is simply communication in the absence of effective words. Your child isn't giving you a hard time; they are having a hard time.

The entire secret to behaviour intervention lies in discovering the why—the purpose—through a tool called the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA). We stop reacting to the scream and start looking at the environment around the scream, using the simple ABCs:

A - Antecedent (The Trigger): What happened right before the behaviour? This is the spark. (e.g., You turned the music off, the room got too crowded, or you asked them to stop playing.)

B - Behavior (The Action): What did they do? (e.g., Screaming, hitting, flopping onto the floor.)

C - Consequence (The Payoff): What happened immediately after? This is what unintentionally taught them to use that behaviour again. (e.g., You removed the task, they got a huge, immediate reaction from you, or you gave the phone back.)

By consistently tracking this pattern, we identify the Function of the Behavior. There are four main reasons kids use challenging behaviour:

Escape/Avoidance: "Get me out of this task/place/situation!"

Attention: "Look at me! I need connection, even if it's negative!"

Access to Tangibles/Activities: "I want that toy/snack/activity, and I want it now!"

Sensory Stimulation: "My body feels wrong. I need more input (or less input) to feel regulated."

The Tactical Takeaway: Once we know the why, we can breathe. We stop fighting the behaviour and start teaching a replacement skill that meets the exact same need in an appropriate, safe, and functional way.

Three Tactical Pillars of ABA Intervention 

Effective behaviour intervention is not a single strategy; it’s a robust, three-layered approach. Your BCBA designs this strategic plan, but its success depends entirely on your consistent execution at home.

Pillar 1: Antecedent Strategies 

The kindest, most effective strategy is preventing the problem before it even has a chance to start. Antecedent strategies are proactive changes you make to the environment or routine that make the challenging behaviour unnecessary.

Environmental Adjustments: If your child frequently runs out of the room during dinner (Behavior), and the FBA shows they are escaping the bright lights and noise (Function: Escape/Sensory), the antecedent strategy is simple: dim the lights and put on soft music before dinner starts. You removed the trigger, and you won!

High-Probability Sequence (High-P): If a child frequently avoids demands (like "put on your shoes"), you build momentum. Precede the hard demand (low-P) with several easy demands (high-P) they reliably complete. Example: "High-five," "Touch nose," "Clap hands" (High-P successes), then "Put on shoes" (Low-P). The momentum of success carries them through the tough demand.

Providing Choice: This is one of the best Strategies for managing meltdowns autism. Instead of demanding, ask, "Do you want to put on the blue shirt or the red shirt?" That small choice gives them a vital sense of control and reduces the likelihood of an escalating refusal.

Pillar 2: Teaching Replacement Behaviours 

We never eliminate a behaviour; we teach a better, more functional way to achieve the same goal. This is often called Functional Communication Training (FCT). The new skill must be easier and faster for your child to use than the old problem behaviour.

Replacing Escape: If your child hits themselves when asked to clean up (Function: Escape), we teach them to use their words or a picture card to say, "Break, please." The consequence of the new skill is the same as the old one (escape from the task), but the method is functional and safe.

Replacing Access to Tangibles: If a child grabs a toy from a sibling (Function: Access), we teach them to say, "My turn, please," or to use a visual "wait" card. This provides a socially acceptable skill for getting what they want, which is key to Developing social skills through ABA.

Replacing Attention-Seeking: If a child disrupts a meal by whining (Function: Attention), we teach them appropriate ways to gain attention, like tapping your shoulder gently or waiting for a natural lull in conversation before speaking. We fill their need for connection at appropriate times.

Pillar 3: Consequence Strategies 

Once a replacement behaviour is taught, the consequence determines whether your child will use it again. We want to maximize the reward for the right choice and minimize the reward for the wrong choice.

Differential Reinforcement: This is the strategy of ignoring the problem behaviour (a tough but necessary part, always done safely) while simultaneously giving big, enthusiastic reinforcement when the appropriate replacement behaviour is used. Example: You ignore the whining (extinction), but you immediately give massive praise and attention to the verbal request for a drink (reinforcement). This makes the appropriate skill the most rewarding option for your child.

Response Blocking/Redirection: If the child attempts the problem behaviour (e.g., starts to run away), we calmly prevent them from achieving the function and immediately redirect them back to the appropriate skill (e.g., "Use your words, say 'break'"). The focus is always on steering them toward the correct choice without letting the challenging behaviour get the payoff.

Behaviour Intervention at Home: Your Tactical Checklist 

You are your child's most important teacher. Your consistent, patient application of these ABA concepts is what drives profound change. This is why Parent training in applied behavior analysis is so vital to our approach.

Be a Detective, Not a Judge: When a challenging behaviour happens, pause and ask yourself: What did my child get out of that? (Was it escape? Attention? The toy?) Knowing the function is 90% of the solution, allowing you to react strategically, not emotionally.

Make the Right Choice Easy: If you are teaching a replacement skill (like asking for "break"), make sure that skill is easier and faster for your child to use than the old problem behaviour. For a non-verbal child, a picture card or a simple sign is easier than hitting.

Be a Cheerleader: When your child uses the new, appropriate skill, the reward must be immediate and high-value. Don't make them wait. The faster and bigger the reward, the stronger the learning. Consistency, even when you're tired, is key to success.

Coordinate with Your BCBA: View your Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) as your co-pilot. They design the intervention plan based on the FBA data, and your consistent, loving application of the plan at home is what makes the intervention effective across all environments.

I’m writing these repeating blog posts about common misconceptions in radical behaviorism. 

My first common misconception is that radical behaviorism focuses only on what is directly observable and therefore disregards thoughts and feelings. This is entirely incorrect. Thoughts and feelings are considered as antecedents and consequences in radical behaviorism. Antecedents and consequences are what come before and after behaviors, respectively. Here’s a simple ABC example that includes thoughts and feelings:

Antecedents: thought: I shouldn’t have said that nasty thing’, feelings: guilt

Behavior: apologize

Consequence: reduced feeling of guilt

The apologizing behavior therefore leads to a reduction in guilt. In the future, when guilty feelings arise, the person will be more likely to apologize because it led to a reduction in guilt in the past. This is also an example of negative reinforcement (another commonly misunderstood term that I’ll write a blog about later).

Here’s another ABC with thoughts/feelings.

Antecedent: friend asks me to done $20 to a charity they are supporting

Behavior: donate the $20

Consequence: feel good, think “I’m a nice friend.”

Seriously Awesome Overview of the History of Stress

This article by R.S. Lazarus titled “From Psychological Stress to the Emotions: A History of Changing Outlooks” was really interesting.  The first part of the article reads like a great story.  Stress is one of those words that we tend to throw around all the time without bothering to define what we actually mean by the word.  Academia has gone through many definitions of stress and probably will…